Latest news with #Weiwei
Hypebeast
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
Ai Weiwei Subverts the Swoosh in 'Colored Vase' Edition
Summary Ai Weiweihas built a career on turning tradition inside out, consistently returning to ancient Chinese pottery to confront politics of value, heritage and power. In his provocative 1995 piece 'Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn,' Weiwei did just that, reframing destruction as its own act of preservation. In other works, centuries-old vases are graced with a logomaniac touch, weaving symbols of commercial emblems into objects of deep cultural heritage. The iconic artist and activist builds on this dialogue in a new five-piece collaboration withAvant Arte. Titled 'Coloured Vase,' the limited sculptural edition dons a familiar upside-down swoosh, fusing ancient craftsmanship with the language of contemporary commerce. The projects comes as a follow up to his 2023 Coca-cola emblazoned Murano 'Glass Vase' works and Duchamp-inspiredReadymades— works that challenge the social systems that decides what gets to be precious. Arriving in red, blue, green, silver and gold colorways, the nickel-plated editions are created trough a meticulous metal-spinning process and finished with a tinted lacquer. Measuring 21 × 23 × 23 cm, every vase bears Weiwei's engraved signature and its unique edition number on the base. The sculptures will be available for $1,554 USD for a one-week window, starting at 2 PM BST on August 28. Head toAvant Arteto sign up for the drop.
Hypebeast
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
Ai Weiwei's ‘Zodiac Heads' Land in the Hamptons After Global Tour
Summary After traveling to more than 30 cities worldwide,Ai Weiwei's 'Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Gold' (2010) has returned to New York, the city where it first debuted. The celebrated sculptures are now on view atMother Nature in the Bardo, a group exhibition presented byBlackBookin Southampton through September 31. Launched at the Pulitzer Fountain in 2011, Ai Weiwei's largest iteration of the work, entitledZodiac Heads:Large Bronze, drew acclaim when they were inaugurated by then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg alongside key art figures such as Julian Schnabel and Shirin Neshat. At the time, Weiwei himself was unable to attend the debut, as he was detained by Chinese authorities just a month prior and remained without a passport for four years. The series reimagines 18th-century zodiac sculptures that once adorned a Qing dynasty fountain before being looted by French and British forces in 1860. Ai's work recontextualizes these historic artifacts, exploring ideas around cultural theft, authenticity and restitution. Alongside Ai Weiwei,Mother Nature in the Bardofeatures works by Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst and others. Launching in September, Ai Weiwei's 'Zodiac Heads (Bronze)' will be installed at Seattle's Olympic Sculpture Park led by theSeattle Art Museum. The 12 towering sculptures, reimagining looted Qing dynasty zodiac figures, will be arranged in a semi-circle at Ackerley Meadow. Mother Nature in the Bardo245 Country Road 39Southampton, NY 11968
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Yahoo
The 9 Most Beautiful Wineries in Napa and Sonoma
All products featured on Architectural Digest are independently selected by Architectural Digest editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, Condé Nast may earn an affiliate commission. Photo: Courtesy of The Donum Estate Common sense says otherwise, but it's tempting to believe that the more gorgeous the winery, the more incredible the juice produced there. Of course, grapes don't know how grand or modest a vineyard they're growing in, though surely the winemakers working magic across the fields, tanks, and cellars are inspired and informed by their surroundings, both natural and built. In Northern California's Elysian wine country, mainly comprising Napa and Sonoma counties, it's easy to be wowed when pulling up to an estate surrounded by bountiful rows of vines, graceful trees filtering the sunlight, and tasting rooms that invite an immediate smile. But some properties go beyond 'wow' to the magnificent or truly sublime—think architecture by the likes of Herzog & de Meuron and Studio Other Spaces. Here, nine of the most beautiful wineries in Napa and Sonoma that each, for their own special reason, may very well leave their visitors floored—and not only because of their intoxicating varietals. Equal parts terroir-driven, single vineyard–only wine producer and monumental sculpture art collection, The Donum Estate is Sonoma's most jaw-dropping and sensorial vino mecca. There's no sip-and-go option here; instead guided tastings are immersive tours through not only the oft-awarded Chardonnay and Pinot Noirs (bearing artwork by Ai Weiwei), paired with seasonal canapés, but also the vast regenerative estate with pieces and commissions from the likes of Weiwei, Yayoi Kusama, Louise Bourgeois, El Anatsui, Jaume Plensa, Keith Haring and, added most recently, a tremendous bronze by Sanford Biggers. Visual stimulation is as much the M.O. as taste, with the hospitality center originally designed by Matt Hollis then chicly reimagined by David Thulstrup, and a prismatic microclimate-inspired conical tasting pavilion by Olafur Eliasson's and Sebastian Behmann's Studio Other Spaces. 24500 Ramal Road, Sonoma; open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily; reservation required. Meaning is imbued in the very architecture of Aperture Cellars' estate, which was imagined by Juancarlos Fernandez of Signum Architecture as a deconstruction of the aperture of a camera lens—a reference to its winemaker founder Jesse Katz's father, photographer Andy Katz, who brought his son on work projects around the world. The striking vintage galvanized metal–clad building with 180-degree panoramas of vineyard and mountain has a central oculus skylight, angular rooflines, and walls that splay outward echoing lens blades, with plenty of glass but also hefty mass grounding it. The gallery-like private tasting rooms, with impressive vistas, feature the elder Katz's photography and are the place to taste the winemaking artist's latest best of the best of 300-plus lots release, Collage. 12291 Old Redwood Hwy., Healdsburg; open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday; tasting reservations by appointment 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It's impossible to miss Ashes & Diamonds, a Napa winery that's as fun and funky as anything one could find in a destination that tends to take itself rather seriously. The place is an ode to the circa-1960s California Dream, with plenty of references to midcentury modern design, paired with a Palm Springs-y vibe. Almost entirely white on the exterior, save for a few pops of saturated yellow and green, the winery's zig-zag roof and porthole windows designed by Barbara Bestor help it stand out as a playful, airy place to sip organic Bordeaux varietals made with a light-touch Burgundian approach. 4130 Howard Lane, Napa; open 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily; reservation highly recommended. This storied Calistoga wine destination looks just like what one would expect when they hear the word 'winery.' Its castle-like stone English Gothic structure dates to 1888 and is now covered in ivy for a fairytale take with significant European references. The building, on the National Register of Historic Places, once held one of Napa's largest wineries but it closed during Prohibition and, in the '50s, came under ownership who built Chinese pagodas, gardens, and excavated Jade Lake. The '70s brought new owners who hid Irish signage throughout and an illustrious bit of its history: its 1973 Chardonnay winning the famous Judgement of Paris, which was depicted in the film Bottle Shock. 1429 Tubbs Lane, Calistoga; open 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily; reservations encouraged, walk-ins accepted. Stepping into House of Flowers, the charmingly named hospitality center and tasting destination for Flowers Vineyards & Winery in Healdsburg, is like entering a dream home, filled with light, texture, clean geometries, and wood both salvaged and bleached cypress. The adaptive reuse project designed by Walker Warner, with interiors by Maca Huneeus Design, brought a 13.5-acre 1970s winery into into a nature-embracing retreat for the sustainable wine label whose famous coastal Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs are unveiled as guests make their way through a series of spaces inside a graphite black inspired by the surrounding redwoods that frame the landscape. The terraced gardens, too, are aspirational, with their contemporary cabanas, native plants and pizza oven. 4035 Westside Road, Healdsburg; open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday to Monday; reservation required, with limited walk-ins allowed. The design of Artesa borders on land art, its architecture so seamlessly integrated in the earth. It was conceived by Barcelona's Domingo Triay and built in 1991 with the goal of preserving the dynamic landscape that had so inspired the Raventós Codorníu family who founded it. The visual effect of this minimalist winery burrowed so modishly into the hillside complete with a seamless 'roof' of natural grasses is unforgettable, as is the dramatic procession of steps falling down the topography, crossing pools of water along the way. Sleek as it looks outside, the interior experience pays homage to some hallmarks of Spanish handicrafts, including handprinted tiles and filigree. 1345 Henry Road, Napa; open 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Sunday; reservations encouraged. Promontory fans like Hailey Bieber, the Kardashians, and LeBron James may not only visit this Napa winery because of its design—by wine country favorites Backen & Backen—since its Cabernet Sauvignon is incredibly highly rated, but it definitely doesn't hurt. Appropriately for a vino-maker in Oakville, oak is a recurring theme. The wood is from Austria in the all-important barrel room, and a beautiful slab of a felled California oak makes an elegant first impression in the entry, drawing the eye outward toward the trellis and well-framed view, which looks like a painting. There are hardened steel beam nods to the Industrial Revolution in the gravity-flow winery, which also has a water feature that feeds a reservoir in the lower valley. 1601 Oakville Grade Road, Oakville; open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; appointment required. When it was completed in 1997, Dominus' closed-to-the-public winery became the first U.S. project of the esteemed Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron. It was appropriately innovating: the first winery to be built with a gabion structure, using local basalt rocks to fill the galvanized cages as walls for a facade that also naturally insulates against extreme temperatures, which helps the wine age. With its low profile, the 333-foot-long, 30-foot-high monolith bleeds into its Napanook vineyard and Mayacamas mountains landscape, making it one of the most beautiful wineries in Napa. It provides a low-key yet wondrously elegant environment for winemaking by French founder and owner Christian Moueix. 2570 Napanook Road, Yountville; not open to the public. A pioneer in wine tourism, this mid-'70s classical Bordeaux chateau–inspired winery in Healdsburg's rolling green hills has consistently leveled up its own environs, which sprawl out over 1,200 acres that include lakes and olive groves. Certified sustainable, Jordan's sunny yellow home base is in the midst of a seven-year enhancement that most recently saw the new lobby bow with panels of Farrow & Ball Light Blue 22 with custom-distressed gold trim and a George V–inspired concierge desk in swirled Ponte Vecchia honed marble with a 17th-century Aubusson tapestry from Paris' Galerie Jabert. Period pieces sourced by San Francisco interior designer Maria Khouri Haidamus stun throughout, along with exquisite wall coverings and commissioned artwork—see Alice Riehl's delicate sculpted porcelain flora—that make the entire experience a total pleasure. 1474 Alexander Valley Road, Healdsburg; open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily; tastings and tours by reservation only. Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
Time Out
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
A new Ai Weiwei installation will cover Roosevelt Island in camouflage netting
This fall, the southern tip of Roosevelt Island will be swathed in camouflage netting, but not for military drills. World-renowned artist and activist Ai Weiwei is set to unveil 'Camouflage,' a monumental new installation at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park that marks both his return to New York and the launch of a new public art initiative: Art X Freedom. Opening on September 10 to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, 'Camouflage' will transform the park into a contemplative sanctuary draped in netting. Visitors will be able to contribute hand-written reflections on freedom, tying them to the fabric of the work in a gesture of collective memory and resistance. The installation will be on view on site through December 1, 2025. Weiwei, whose past NYC installations famously targeted immigration policies and state surveillance, described the project to the New York Times as 'a personal commentary on what is unfolding politically and culturally in our time.' At the center of the piece: a towering architectural structure rising above the bust of FDR, cloaked in mesh and inscribed with a stark Ukrainian proverb about the dual nature of war. The installation won't showcase your standard issue camo, but, instead, will feature a custom animal-print version boasting cats, a nod to a rescue center located near the park. 'I didn't want to use conventional military camouflage, because I find it personally repulsive,' the artist told the Times. 'We've all seen too much harm associated with that pattern—it's essentially a uniform that negates life.' The installation is the inaugural commission of Art X Freedom, a new program from the Four Freedoms Park Conservancy that invites artists to explore themes of liberty, human rights and justice. It's the first initiative of its kind to activate a presidential memorial as a platform for forward-looking contemporary expression. Future commissions will be awarded through an open call, with a $25,000 prize and realization support for the winning artist.
The Guardian
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Ai Weiwei installation to launch New York City social justice art program
Ai Weiwei is returning to New York with a new installation on Roosevelt Island. The Four Freedoms Park Conservancy announced on Thursday that it had commissioned the Chinese contemporary artist to help launch a new public art initiative in September. The new program, titled Art X Freedom, will invite artists to make site-specific projects that 'interrogate issues of social justice and freedom', according to a press release. Starting 10 September – a date concurrent with both the 80th session of the United Nations general assembly and the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war – the public can view Weiwei's installation Camouflage. The project comprises an open sanctuary and structure draped in camouflage netting, inviting viewers to consider questions of 'vulnerability and protection, truth and concealment, and the reverberating impacts of violent human conflicts around the world', according to the press release. It will be Weiwei's first major public artwork in New York since 2017, when he installed a series of cages around the city to protest against the first Trump administration's harsh immigration policies. The 67-year-old has long been one of the most politically outspoken artists of his generation, even in the face of government pressure over his criticism of its human rights violations. In 2010, the Chinese government held him in a secret detention center for 80 days and repeatedly interrogated him for charges of tax fraud. He left the country in 2015, and maintained studios all over the world, including in London and Berlin. He now lives and works in Portugal, and is currently the subject of a large retrospective at the Seattle Museum of Art including four decades of work. His new project at the Franklin D Roosevelt Four Freedoms state park, a place on the southernmost tip of Roosevelt Island that memorializes the 32nd president's famous speech on human rights, embodies the artist's 'personal commentary on what is unfolding politically and culturally in our time', Weiwei told the New York Times. It is the first commission by Art X Freedom, which provides an annual budget of $250,000 for works altering the 3.5-acre park. Each artist will also receive a $25,000 prize. 'Public art is a mirror to our times,' said the initiative's co-chair, philanthropist Agnes Gund. 'Art X Freedom speaks to the urgent need to protect freedom for all, including freedom of speech, expression and the right to dissent – values that are the bedrock of democracy and justice.' Added Allison Binns, a venture capitalist who serves as Gund's co-chair: 'Ai Weiwei is globally renowned for his provocative and thought-provoking body of work and his staunch and unwavering advocacy for human rights. We could not have found a more perfect partner or resonant project to help us introduce Art X Freedom to the world and inspire park visitors.' Camouflage will remain on view until 1 December 2025. The conservancy will announce finalists for the September 2026 installation in the fall of this year.
